19. Being gay *should* be like being left-handed or blonde. It *should* be unremarkable.

Gay people *shouldn't* be discriminated against or derided or bullied or jailed or killed.

I've heard that left handed people used to be forced to write with their right hands because crazy people thought they were possessed by the devil. Society as a whole has recognized how crazy that is, and now being left handed is mostly unremarkable.

Society is moving toward recognizing that it is crazy to think there is something wrong with being gay. But it is certainly not there yet. There are countries where homosexuality is illegal. In the US, gay people are routinely discriminated against.

I live in a state that just voted for marriage equality. It is remarkable that, for the first time, a small majority of voters said it was okay, even with ballot language and TV commercials that assured voters six ways to Sunday that religious organizations who think being gay is an abomination would still be allowed to do so. One of the most progressive states in the US, and 48% of people think being gay is such an awful thing that they will vote in favor of state sanctioned discrimination (a trivial amount of those people might have been pointlessly voting against state sanctioned marriage in general, but since a defeat would do nothing in that regard I can't believe it was many).

If a person's sexual orientation were irrelevant to everyone, it would be irrelevant. Congrats to you for not being a bigoted asshole that sends teenagers to anti-gay corrective therapy or brainwashes them into thinking they they can change who they are attracted to if they only pray hard enough. But such assholes do exist and as long as they do, gay kids need role models.